Turkey's SGK expands retirement options and targets fake insurance schemes

The Social Security Institution (SGK) in Turkey announced new regulations that let individuals with missing pension contribution days complete the gaps through birth, military, overseas service borrowing and Bağ‑Kur reinstatement. The 2025 borrowing rates are set as percentages of the gross minimum wage: 32 % for birth or military, 45 % for overseas service and about 34.5 % for Bağ‑Kur reinstatement.

At the same time, SGK reported that 185,561 people were identified as falsely insured in 2025. The agency has been classifying workplaces using about 100 parameters since 2016, leading to the detection of 3,273 fake firms and 245,740 fraudulent insureds overall. Penalties include cancellation of pension payments, repayment of benefits with interest, administrative fines equal to the minimum wage for each false entry, and possible imprisonment for employers under Turkish criminal law.